


Colorful Reunion

by MelaniaGreen



Category: RWBY
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nonbinary Blake Belladonna, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trans Female Character, Trans Nora Valkyrie, small canon divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27777595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelaniaGreen/pseuds/MelaniaGreen
Summary: After their reunion in Mystral, Blake has a lot of explanation to give to people who were hurt by them running away. Despite that, they are determined to earn their forgiveness and to not let themself be this weak again. They were not going to let themselves be hurt again but beeing better is not always easy.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Red Anger and Black Fear

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was supposed to be a short one shot.  
> And then it wasn't.  
> So now, it's probably going to be a three chapter thing.  
> Still not very long by fanfiction standard but who knows if it'll escape me once again.
> 
> Feel free to comment or leave Kudos if you feel so inclined.

Blake were stuck in a room with a person glowing red, with a semblance based on taking damages and sending them back. If they weren’t so terrified, they might have laughed from the irony of it all, though they would have probably fled first.

No, this was their old self. They were going to stand their ground, even if they were terrified and wanted nothing more to do than be out of here. They were stuck in a room with only one door and one window and They didn’t fancy collecting glass from their hair.

Their back straightened, ears flat against their head and they stood their ground ,not so, defiantly.

Yang’s gaze was searing through them as if they were made of paper. She was deathly quiet, but Blake’s ears were good enough to pick up the sound of motors in her arm grinding with how tight both her metallic fist was closed.

They had been so happy to see Yang fighting with both arms, the fear that they had let their teammates bleed out with the medics because of them had kept them up at night ever since. They did expect to take a punch to the face, and it was obvious that the brawler was fighting back their envy to give them exactly that.

Yang had grabbed them by the arm and had-not so gently-pushed them toward an empty room of the Mystral academy after shoving a glowing blue lamp to her sister. It didn’t seem like a calculated choice of room since they ended up in a supply closet, stuck with so little space there wasn’t any way out without an agreement or a beatdown.

The Dragon was looking terrible honestly, her eyes red were not only her semblance judging by the streak left by tears against her dust covered cheeks. Blake didn’t fare much better, they had been in the same fight after all, though it was shorter for them.

The silence was only broken by the sound of gears and motors from the robotic arm, though Yang probably didn’t hear that. But it was not to last “Do you have anything to say?” the growling voice made them shiver which wasn’t helped by the choice of word, Yang couldn’t know who used to tell them those words.

Blake’s throat was tight, and their hands were shaking. Their body is already sending every signal that they should run away. But they had made a choice this time, instinct wasn’t the only thing keeping them alive. “I-I’m so  _ so _ sorry Yang fo- “They couldn’t finish their sentence as they were suddenly lifted off the ground by a powerful grip around their collar.

“You’re sorry?! Sorry won’t cut it this time! Do you know it felt to be left alone like that? Do you know how  _ I _ felt or are you just that much of a selfish bitch!” The shouting was hurting their ears about as much as the words damaged their brain, but they could feel something else. They could feel anger rising faster than the guilt could crush it.

They felt the grip tighten but Yang was out of line and they weren’t gonna take it. Not again. With a swift move they were out of their new jacket and onto firm ground once more. Before the brawler could react, Blake’s feet had collided with her chest and pushed the blonde against the closed door and away from them.

Yang clearly wasn’t expecting it, she could have blocked it easily if she wasn’t so tired and angry, but she wasn’t the only angry and tired person in this closet. “Do you know how  _ I _ felt?! Running away was one of the worst decisions of my life but I had reasons!” Yang clearly didn’t expect Blake to talk back, she was standing there dumbfounded holding an empty jacket.

The jacket soon collected a fresh coat of dust on the ground as Yang threw it. Her eyes still as red as she rested herself against the closed door, crossing her arms against her chest. “You better be convincing  _ Kitty cat _ ” the fact that she knew very well why they hated this nickname wasn’t doing their nerves any favors.

“I told you to never call me that.” Their voice was shaky with emotions, too many to really tell but they were as ready to cry as they were to punch Yang’s face.

“When…Adam and I were a thing, he was abusive, in many ways. He never really meant it or always apologized but as soon as something went wrong, it was  _ me _ who was to blame. But the worst was when his scar was hurting him.” Yang’s starting restlessness had slowly calmed down, Blake could have sworn she had held her breath at Adam’s name, but they couldn’t stop now. If Yang wanted a full explanation, she was going to get it, whether she liked it or not. 

Their next breath was hard to take and the words pushing themselves out of their mouth were about as painful. “He was branded with a hot iron on the face when he was caught stealing by the SDC. His bandana is mainly there to protect it from the outside. But sometimes it burned him all over again. And the more it burned the more likely he was to leave bruises.”

They could feel their body shaking at the memory and they had to focus hard to not hear his voice or imagine vivid details of his more painful outbursts. Yang’s voice sounded less angry, but she seemed offended and disgusted as she yelled more than spoke. “So what? I’m not like him!”. This was the wrong thing to say.

Blake’s eyes opened wide and closed to angry slit as they advanced and grabbed at the blonde’s collar. They might not be able to lift her, but this was just too much to take. “You want to know what he told me after killing two students right in front of me?! ‘this is what you get for leaving me Kitty cat’. Reminds you of someone?”

Yang seemed too stunned to say anything. Her eyes turned back to lilac and she didn’t make any moves to push them back. Their throat was raw, but they had something to say. “I’m really sorry that I ran away Yang, I can’t take that back, I’ll apologize by staying around if you still want me to. But I won’t be stepped on again.” They let go of Yang and moved back coughing a little.

She didn’t say anything for a while. She looked conflicted and the shaking in her arms was either frustration or a strong need to punch something,maybe both at this point. She spoke, and not yelled this time, her voice carried an icy anger that reminded them of Weiss more than she thought possible. “I had nightmares about him you know. I barely saw him for more than a minute before I was out, and yet it happened every night for weeks. Every night I would try to save you, and every night he cut my arm off.”

Blake’s ears flattened against their head, they didn’t expect the shaking to be fear, they didn’t expect Yang to shake like that. “I’m sorry…” the words felt pitiful, even to them this time. Yang seemed to think the same as her eyes glowed red for a couple of seconds.

“I don’t care. I needed someone to talk to about that when I woke up! Everyone looked at me like I was broken, and they were right. And the one person who knew what I was going through  _ ran away _ from me!” This time Blake recoiled, because she was right. They still had nightmares on bad nights about him, and they left Yang alone with them.

Yang looked tired, as if all of this was too much for her to bear and that just broke their heart further. They figured Yang would just bounce back with her usual bravado or her anger for Adam would probably carry her through recovery. Lies that they made up to excuse how cowardly they were.

“I wish I knew what to say to help with your nightmare. I still have them on bad days, but it gets better with time. Talking to my parents about it helped, so if you want to talk…I’m sorry I was a coward, you deserved better.” They hoped they were no longer the coward that ran away.

Her eyes glazed over, seemingly lost in memories, probably a bad one judging by the glistening in her lilac eyes. She turned her back to Blake but didn’t move. “I don’t forgive you, and this conversation is far from over! But you’re lucky, I’ve met a bigger coward than you tonight. She ran away from every responsibility for her action again and again. You, at least, came back. See you tomorrow Blake.” Yang opened the door and left without looking behind her.

Blake stood there for a while, lost in thought. They picked up and dusted their jacket before leaving. They didn’t expect Ruby or Weiss to forgive them either. But they had to try for all the time they failed to do even that.


	2. Rose Truth and Blue Hope.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first conversation Blake had with Yang was far from easy, and it was probably not the lat. They still had two teammates to convince that they deserved a second chance after leaving them to fare alone in a Remnant that keeps getting more and more hostile with each grimm or bandit attack. They just weren't sure how much they had changed while they were away...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should have less mistakes and weird phrasing hopefully.   
> Feel free if something escaped me to tell me.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated if you feel so inclined.

“Good morning Blake” Ruby’s voice wasn’t as cheerful as usual. The fact that she intercepted Blake’s a few hundred meters away from the team’s house was a bit concerning. They had been sent the address on their scroll during the night.

After the discussion with Yang, it seemed like a good idea to put some distance between them to breathe a bit better. It also gave them an opportunity to check on possible wounded from the fight with Adam’s White Fang. The fact that they had their parents and Ilia around for the breakdown that happened when the adrenaline rush of the night died down was a fortunate side effect.

Ruby looked older, not in just years but her whole body reflected a newfound assurance in herself. She was never really the shy type but now she looked like someone who deserved to be acknowledged and not just a girl trying to fit in by any means necessary. “Hello Ruby, it’s good to see you, I guess you were the one who sent the address in the night?” Contact information didn’t really survive the towers destruction, they just knew the message said it was team JNR and RWBY’s safe house in Mystral.

Ruby’s eyes stared into theirs with an expression that reminded them of Yang more than ever. “No, it was uncle Qrow, I was against letting you know where we stayed right away.” The coldness of the voice would have been enough but the words that it carried made them take a step backward.

It was one thing to know that their whole team was angry with them, it was another to see their team leader and bubbly friend tell them outright she didn’t want to see them. “Oh…” Was the only thing they could say at this point.

“Yeah, Weiss and Yang voted for and I was against. Qrow was the most neutral messenger we could find.” The matter of fact tone she took didn’t make Blake feel any better, but it wasn’t Ruby’s objective clearly.

It didn’t explain one thing though. “If you didn’t want to see me, why are you here?” It didn’t make any sense to them why Ruby would take the time to look for the most likely route they would take between all possible itinerary just so that she could tell them off. 

Ruby was angry, it was a rare sight but one you didn’t easily forget. She suddenly felt more like a threat. “I don’t want you to hurt my big sister further, I never saw her like yesterday, and I don’t want to see it again. I know some of what you told her, but I want to make sure you won’t make her go back to how she was at home. I just got her back; I won’t lose her again!”

Blake’s first thought was that they needed to get out of here, anger directed toward them was not good and they needed to be outside the line of sight of this danger. The second one was that they didn’t know Ruby was as protective with Yang as Yang was with her. The last was that they needed to say something if they didn’t plan to run. And they weren’t going to run this time.

“I’m sorry I hurt Yang, I was selfish and afraid, but it doesn’t excuse how I left the three of you…Sun told me what happened…who we lost…I’m ashamed of how weak I was. I’m going to stay and keep staying with you all until I can be forgiven for what I did. I had my reason and I won’t pretend regretting everything I did but now I’m strong enough to stay.” They didn’t feel strong enough to stay yet but they could be. They had to be this time. 

Ruby stared at them a bit longer with those angry eyes, but Blake didn’t move. With a heavy sigh Ruby’s smile returned and though it didn’t quite reach her silver eyes, it was a lot less angry than seconds before. “Good. RWBY wouldn’t be without you but it couldn’t be without Yang either, I had to know you changed too” Blake let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding.

They knew Yang would probably be less than happy about last night's talk, but they didn’t think she would care this much about a coward’s opinion. “We still have more to talk about with Yang…and I can’t promise it won’t hurt her again but if we’re to work together again, I can’t be afraid of her and she needs to be able to trust me.” Ruby looked puzzled at that.

“I can get why she would have trouble trusting you again, all of us might really. I don’t really get why you would be afraid of my sister though? I know she can get…abrasive but she never hurt anyone…anyone who didn’t deserve it.” Ruby’s pause told them that they’re was a story there, but it wasn’t the time to talk about it. 

Blake’s throat emitted a low purring, not enough for human ears to pick up but it was enough for them to feel it. They had found out this “display of vulnerability” as Adam had called it helped calm their nerves. “Yang has her heart in the right place, but she still reminds me of Adam when her anger gets out of hand. I was already afraid at Beacon but since I saw him again…Well, some things became easier and others are harder, dealing with people’s anger toward me didn’t become easier.” 

Ruby looked surprised, scratching the back of her head. “She got a lot better at that since Beacon, I guess seeing you again made her slip back into old habits. Her anger is justified but I’m still sorry about how it affects you.” Ruby’s hand didn’t hesitate to pat the cat faunus’s shoulder, Blake didn’t like it, but they could tolerate it.

Tolerating it didn’t mean that they were not gonna try and escape this touch. They gently stepped back out of the smaller girl’s reach. “I would like to see the others if you don’t mind, I’ve got a lot to apologize for and…I missed you all.” They didn’t really want to go sooner than needed but they really did miss their team. 

Ruby’s smile reached her eyes this time. “Sure, Blake I don’t know how JNR will feel about that, you should probably steel yourself for Weiss, she hasn’t told us what happened in Atlas but she’s as snappy as her first month”. Blake cringed at that, Weiss' first month at Beacon had been a real test of their philosophy that everyone deserved at least to be heard before being judged. 

They started to walk together, talking and trying to catch up. The tension between them slowly dissolved as they caught up to what had happened during the time they were separated. Ruby seemed to have grown a lot closer to the remaining members of team JNPR, they were the main topic of discussion of what happened to Ruby in this makeshift team RNGR. She had left Yang too it seems though she was at least there for a while.

They clearly had gotten a lot better at hunting Grimm since Beacon if Ruby’s trophy list was anything to go by though they didn’t have fought any humans. Blake wished they hadn’t had to fight humans, but they guessed they would probably have to fight more humans before all of this was over. Whatever “this'' was.

Yang and Weiss had arrived a few days ago using Yang’s mother's semblance to teleport to Qrow on top of Bumblebee. The story of that pair somehow involved a dust smuggler, a kidnapping for ransom and a talk that they had to be given. Menagerie’s attempted coup didn’t seem that intense in retrospect.

Soon enough they arrived at the house that held the entire group. Judging by what their ears picked up; Ren, Nora and Jaune were all training with one person’s voice they couldn’t quite place. Ruby grabbed her keys and entered the front door leading Blake inside. There were a lot of smells around the house but that was to be expected, it didn’t make it any less disorientating for a second, a lot of them were familiar and yet different from what they were. 

Weiss soon appeared from what smelled like the kitchen. She moved stiffly, with how bad her injury was it was already a miracle that she was breathing at all. “Ruby, you brought the cat back, has she been nice?”. This wasn’t a great start, but it wasn’t the first time Blake had to deal with Weiss’s lack of empathy when angry.

Before Ruby could reprimand her, Blake stepped forward. “They are still a panther, Schnee.” It wasn’t aggressive but it was a fact and they’d rather get that coming out over as soon as possible. To be fair, they didn’t really know before they went to the Menagerie. Being confronted by all these old memories and having a safe-ish environment made sprout the seeds that were planted during Beacon. 

Weiss’s expression puzzled Blake. She seemed happy to have been called out on her attitude. While the heiress didn’t get angry when her teammates called her out at Beacon after a while, she usually opposed a token defense of her teaching or at least pouted for a while. “My apologies Blake, I didn’t know about this change and I trust that you didn’t take offense to this jab, I can’t really jab with anything else right now.” Now they were truly lost, Weiss sounded a lot more like her sister now and she had made an attempt at a joke. 

“Ruby, if you don’t mind, I’d like to have a discussion with Blake around a cup of tea. It’s soon going to be the time for your hand to hand combat with Oscar anyway.” This Oscar was probably the “new member who really needs to introduce themselves” that Ruby had told them about. 

Ruby groaned “I’m still sore from yesterday…I guess Jaune’s semblance will help with the healing at least. See you later!” Blake saw their escape route from this conversation burst into petal toward the courtyard. Soon they were led to a small table with sofas, a kettle already in the middle with two cups on the opposite side. They smirked, at least Weiss' readiness hadn’t changed. 

Soon they sat on opposite sides in an awkward silence while their tea cooled down. After what felt like hours but was probably minutes at best, Weiss spoke up. “It’s good to see you Blake, I really missed you.” Blake felt a slight blush on their cheek, they didn’t expect this at all, and it sounded so genuine. Weiss had trouble showing her feelings, so to see her as open with them was more than a bit touching. 

After a sip of tea to collect themselves, they tried to organize the thoughts in their head. ”I missed you too Weiss. I wish I could say I was worried with you gone to Atlas, but I didn’t know until Yang told me. I’m sorry I ran away; I should have done better.” They hung their head low. They knew what the heiress had told about her family life, and not being there to protect her from her father was making them feel really worthless at the moment. If they had been there, well, it would have just been a stray White Fang striking the CEO of the Schnee company down. Not too far from the truth. 

They couldn’t see Weiss’s face, but it didn’t really matter as she spoke. “You did your best at the time, I wasn’t strong enough to resist either, but we’re not the same people anymore.” Her last sentence carried a heaviness that told them that their “stay” in Atlas had been far from a vacation.

Their ears flattened accompanied by a short burst of air through their nostrils. ”You don’t need to coddle me Weiss. I failed, I wasn’t strong enough, not even as strong as I thought. He came and I wasn’t strong enough, Yang tried to help and was hurt. I couldn’t help you and you got hurt too. In the end I did run away again this time.” Their right leg was shaking, they were so angry at themselves for failing their teammates again. They had run away from Adam the first time and left him with Ilia to poison her with his word and now the second time they had managed to directly cause her teammate to lose an arm and indirectly hurt a teammate by leaving them to be sent back to their abusive family. 

Weiss’s hand gently tapped their moving knee and they stopped to look at her. “It’s okay if the best you could do for yourself was run away Blake. Sometimes it’s the best thing you can do to be able to continue on.” Blake’s movement had stopped and soon the small hand was off her knee. Looking at her face, Weiss was clearly preparing to say something that was painful for her. So, they didn’t interrupt her.

“When I was back in Atlas, I was stripped of my title as an heiress of the company, stuck in my room like a punished child. Physically, I could have taken revenge on my father. I’m a huntress in training while my father struggles to generate an aura, I could have probably punched through that with kitchenware. And yet in the end, all I could do was run away.” There was a lot that Weiss didn’t say, and it was clear, but judging by the glowing in her eyes, it was already painful to say this much.

Blake was conflicted, they felt better that someone here understood them, but they still hated themselves for what they had done. Yet, they didn’t hate Weiss for running away, there was one major difference. “Weiss, your escape didn’t hurt anyone, me not being there after this hurt all of you.”

Weiss jumped up from her seat, nearly knocking the tea as she did. “It did! I left my mother with my father, and though she is not the best, no one deserves that. My brother has been poisoned so much by having only him around and I didn’t do anything to help. As far as Winter knows, I’m still stuck in this house and she’s probably putting herself or her place at risk to save someone that isn’t there anymore. Klein has probably been fired since he was the more friendly toward me in the staff. I ran away and a lot of people were hurt by that, but I couldn’t do anything else.” The sobs racked the, no-longer, heiress body as she spoke. 

Blake was soon on their feet, approaching slowly to give Weiss time to get away as they slowly hugged her. It seemed to help somehow. If they were honest, they felt better too. Maybe they had failed, maybe they had hurt people by running away but if Weiss wasn’t a horrible person for it, then they still had a chance. They started purring, louder than usual, enough to calm both themselves and Weiss. It seemed to work as the crying slowly died down. 

“It’s okay Weiss…I’m going to try and not blame myself that much, if you do the same, okay?” The answer they received was a nod against their shoulder shortly before the white-haired girl took a step back.

After some tissues, Weiss was, more or less, back to her pristine self. “Sorry for the outburst, I have been bottling this up for a while. We both need to get better so that the people who had to be hurt so we could get away can forgive us.” These words struck Blake; she was right. They needed to be better not only to be worth forgiveness, but also to justify the sacrifices others had to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Myrmor for beta reading this chapter and for her support.


	3. Peach Grief and Striped Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Yang, Ruby and Weiss, it's time for team JNR to ask Blake for a justification while they still hadn't seen Yang this day. This would soon change so that they could find a common ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter doesn't come out to long winded but it wouldn't let me stop expanding more and more. 
> 
> Last chapter might be a bit delayed due to health issues but there might be a one shot to replace it but I make no promises.
> 
> Feel free to comment or leave Kudos if you feel so inclined.

Weiss and Blake kept talking for a while. Talking about Blake’s life in the Menagerie, mostly to distract from Weiss' time at Atlas. They didn’t think they could be surprised anymore but the story of how she had ended up in a cage that belonged to Yang’s mother’s bandit camp was a weird twist of fate. The fact that they were reunited was the most important in the end.

“I’m happy that you figured more about yourself when you were away. It can be hard to understand who you are when you’re not in the best headspace. I’m trying my very best to not let my Atlas vacation turn me back into the despicable human I was.” Well, those were harsh words for her past self, but she was right, Weiss had been a piece of work, but she had learned fast and tried her best, not a lot of people in her position would have done the same.

Blake was scratching the back of their head; they were still a bit insecure about this new change in themselves. It was very much a process in development still. “Yeah…Talking with Ruby at Beacon and meeting different people than my white fang unit changed me a lot. For the better.” They smiled sheepishly.

Weiss smiled before putting down her empty cup of tea and rising out of the sofa. “Come with me panther, let’s meet the others. Do you want me to tell them about the change in pronouns?” It seemed Weiss' aggressive allyship hadn’t changed, bless her soul. Blake nodded while getting up. The Atlesian was already through the door Ruby had gone through earlier while groaning.

Blake had started to go the same way when their enhanced nose picked up the one strong familiar smell that hadn’t changed. Coming through a door upstairs. They were absentmindedly following it; it was soon obvious the room was a bathroom based on the sound of a shower pouring down. They had smelled this so many times in the beacon. The peculiar fragrance of every product Yang used for her hair, it wasn’t so much one smell, more a mix of the three bottles she used. It had been the perpetual smell of their bathroom for their time together.

They shook their head and went back toward the outdoor garden. There was a lot of catching up to do after all. When they crossed the threshold, they were met with seven people staring back at them with a wide variety of emotions in their eyes, and in various states of sweating and bruising.

Ruby was the closest with a smile on her face, as if she hadn’t been nearly threatening them a few hours earlier. Weiss had clearly taken center place, probably to talk about the pronoun change. They didn’t hear any of it with the shower running close to them, but they trusted most of the people here.

The members of team JNR were forming a trio of inquisitive looks in a gradient. Jaune had crossed his arm on his chest and was clearly holding himself back. Ren’s hand on his shoulder might have been using his semblance to calm him down, the slimmer member seemed inquisitive as well but without much of the anger. Nora was sitting in the middle both emotionally and physically.

Qrow was in the corner, looking through his scroll. The consequences of last night would probably be felt through most of Mistral, the only reason it didn’t reach wider was the lack of communication. The White Fang kills the headmaster of the hunter academy only to be stopped by a group of faunus from the Menagerie. That was quite the story.

They still didn’t know if it was the right plan. The humans shouldn’t have to be shown that a whole race wasn’t characterised by a self described group in war with every kingdom. If Adam hadn’t laid his dirty  _ disgusting _ hand on the White Fang, it might have not been necessary. They might have left Adam’s White Fang, but they didn’t think Sienna was wrong.

Once they drifted back inside their head, they noticed the small teen in the middle of the courtyard. Their eyes locked on the kid’s weapon, why was Ozpin cane in a farmer’s hand? Ruby saved them from having to assume pronouns “Oscar meet Blake, Blake meet Oscar. He’s the one who’s gonna have to have the complicated conversation. Probably with uncle Qrow.” So Oscar, he, good. He waved his hand at them with a shy smile.

Their ears turned toward the sound of mumbling from team JNR soon followed by their eyes.They couldn’t hear what the group said but it was lively. Soon enough Nora and Ren came toward them, both of them looking impassible as they did. Soon Nora’s face cracked with a small smile. “Welcome to the not-cis team Blakey. We’re happy for you.” Blake smiled in return, genuinely. 

Ren spoke in his usual monotone voice, they didn’t think they would ever miss this voice but it sure felt nice to hear him again. “Jaune is having a hard time, Pyrrha's death hit him hard and he has a lot of anger with your decision to run away from your teammates.” The fact that the team shared the same need for explanation didn’t need to be said, Nora’s face was an open book. 

Blake fidgeted a bit, they didn’t really expect team JNR to ask for an explanation. They tried their hardest to not think about Pyrrha’s death, it was an easy way for their mind to imagine what could have been if Wilt had cut in another place. They hadn’t been very close to Pyrrha but anyone willing to beat a whole team of bigots was good in their book. 

“I don’t think we need a complete explanation Blakey, just to know why you ran rather than stayed. We would all give...a lot for her to be back and you ran away when Yang was still right there!” Nora‘s anger was different from Yang’s, both sounded hurt but Nora’s felt more desperate than angry. They didn’t really want to know what “a lot” meant. 

Blake felt little in front of their grief, they might not show as much but they had noticed Ren’s hand squeezing Nora’s shoulder. “I ran because I wasn’t strong enough to fight back and it got Yang hurt...I was afraid of getting more broken when I was at my weakest.” They turned away, it was a hard thing to admit. They could feel the gaze of two teams on them, judging them probably for being so selfish while they had barely been hurt compared to their teammates. 

Nora’s hand stopped near their shoulder as they tensed up. “Sorry, I’ll ask next time. I don’t really understand but you didn’t seem to have much of a choice in this. Want to get some of those feelings out in training?” Judging by the sound of Magnhild switching to its hammer form, they weren’t alone. They could certainly use a fight that wasn’t a life or death one. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

So, they were probably sure they didn’t take that bad of a hit in the head during their sparring matches, it was probably not a hallucination when Qrow had turned into a crow to prove what their dead headmaster had told them. Magic was real, their headmaster had died and been reincarnated as some kind of parasitic soul to a young farmer named Oscar who seemed like a decent kid, the Grimm had a master and the four seasons have four maidens who have magic. 

Not only was it going against everything they had been taught, but there were so many questions going around their head. If the Grimm had a master, how much choice did they have in what they did? If magic was real, what was the limit to something that is probably more powerful than any semblance? How could Ozpin still be sane after coming back to life in new bodies time and time again? Their hand pressed against their head, it was just too many questions for their brain. 

They felt their head getting more and more overwhelmed with each question pressing against their stretched mind. Every feeling from their body felt like too much, it didn’t feel like a panic attack though, which made it somehow worse because they didn’t know what to do. After what felt like ages in their overwhelmed mind, it just shut down. Their mind was full of white noise but at least they couldn’t understand what was going on, they just needed to not have to think much until this crisis was over.

“Hey, Blake, could we talk?” Yang’s voice felt like a knife in the back from Fate’s cold hands. They could only turn around to look at the blonde in her casual clothing with a toolbox, that probably wasn’t a set of tools to torture them. They took a deep breath and nodded silently pointing toward the sofa where their reincarnated headmaster had sat in minutes ago. The fact that her yellow arm was being held in her other one just registered in their mind. 

  
  


They tried to not show pity as Yang took various small instruments Blake didn’t know the name off. She started to open some compartments in the arm for cleaning what looked like general grime. It was a pretty obvious power move to test Blake’s reaction since she probably could have done it at another time. They just had to hide their emotion behind their mask, it had been polished for years. Since she didn’t seem to want to start, they took the initiative. “So what do you want to talk about? More particularly I mean.”

Yang’s hand stopped fidgeting with her arm as she finally looked at them directly. The fact her eyes weren’t red was already an improvement from the last talk they had. “I’m going to start by apologizing. I shouldn’t have grabbed you like I did and It was beyond shitty to use the nickname  _ he _ gave you just because I’m really mad at you. I was coming out of one...well, two fights really and I was  _ really  _ raw. It’s not a good justification, especially for the pet name, but it’s all I got.” Blake was genuinely surprised and it showed apparently since Yang squinted at them. 

“I...I wasn’t expecting that. I accept your apology. I wasn’t in the best mood after fighting Adam again, getting beaten by is more adequate I guess. I shouldn’t have kicked you or told you that you were like Adam. You might have trouble controlling your anger but you never tried to hurt anyone in the team on purpose and you apologize without using it as a bargaining chip.” Blake could remember about a dozen times that particular scenario had happened. 

Adam apologized for whatever he did with promises of being better and it would never happen again, always saying how despicable he was and how he wasn’t good enough for them. Then they would give in, apologize as well for hurting his feelings by being hurt, saying how much he was better than what he thought. The anger and disgust that rose within them was visible enough for Yang and looked at them with a raised eyebrow though she didn’t ask anything.

After a deep breath, they composed themselves again but didn’t plan on sharing how easily they had been abused again and again. Yang waited for a few silent seconds before seemingly dropping the subject as she started to work on her arm again. It was probably meant to be held by a vice as she had to use her feet to hold the arm in place as she took a screwdriver to the prosthetic. Seeing her struggle they slowly moved their hand, so that Yang could stop them if she wanted, and held the arm in place for the blonde to work on. It also meant they were a lot closer now. They heard a muffled “Thanks” followed by the sound of tinkering.

Blake didn’t feel like it was their place to talk, so they just waited for Yang to say what she had on her mind. She was never that good at hiding her thoughts and ‘I’m thinking on how to phrase this’ was written all over her face.They didn’t have to wait that long. Yang looked around, clearly checking the perimeter for hostiles as they were taught in class. Blake focused on their hearing so they could put Yang at ease. “Team JNR is in the courtyard training, Nora is still as loud, I can’t hear anyone around us so no human should be in hearing distance.” Yang nodded with a grin, it was like old times.

  
  


“I don’t want more people to know than necessary.” She put her screwdriver down, settling back in her chair and closing her eyes.”I told you before the ball that my biological mom left me at my birth. Our mom left us after. I have so little memory of her and Rubes can barely remember her face. She disappeared on a secret mission and never came back, after a year we had to assume she was gone like so many huntresses.” Yang was counting on her finger as she talked in a forced monotone voice.”When we made her tombstone, our dad broke down. He still hasn’t really recovered from losing her and I was left to care for a baby while I was barely able to read for a while. He was still physically there ,when he wasn’t at work ,but he wasn’t  _ there _ . Uncle Qrow came when he could, though he wasn’t always sober when he did. So it’s all three of my parents who left me at some point to fare on my own and care for my little sister for their selfish reasons.” Yang was clearly getting angrier but Blake wasn’t afraid. They felt bad for the blonde, and could only feel worse when she kept going down the list.

“I still managed to get into Beacon with the friends I made at Signal, things were looking up, even Rubes was joining me and being more independent. But after the selection all of those friends who survived slowly drifted away without a word.” Her voice was getting shaky as she went but she kept going with a tired laugh.”But it was all good, I had my team with me! Things were not always perfect and we butted heads a lot but we were always there for each other when it counted. Even when I was disqualified from the tournament we stuck together! But then  _ he _ happened. I tried to defend my partner and I woke up with one of my friends having been killed with not even remains to bury and all my team scattered. My very own partner who I tried to protect having run away to somewhere without a word. It was just too fucking much.” Yang’s voice was breaking as she spoke, there was a lot more sadness than anger this time. Blake slowly approached their hand from Yang’s, but when she saw the look in her eyes they forgot that idea. 

“What I’m trying to say is...I’m still really pissed about what you did and things will never be the same. I was starting to think that I could trust my team to stick by me and you shattered that hope! Weiss was literally dragged back by her shitty father while her sister did jack’shit to protect her, and I pushed Rubes away while she was trying to help. But you had the choice, and you ran away from me like everyone else. Why Blake?!” Yang looked at them, her face twisted by emotions as she angrily swept away at tears.

Blake had to swallow the rock that was blocking her throat. They slowly started purring low enough that it wasn’t audible to Yang even as they spoke. “I ran away to protect all of you from Adam. He was going to keep hurting all of you again and again until I either died or gave myself up to protect all of you. I couldn’t protect you and I know you wouldn’t let me alone if you knew he was going after me. I told myself I was running away to protect my team, but I’ve realised that I was also trying to run away from the consequences of what happened.” The truth tasted really bitter in their mouth.

“I’m still afraid of him, and I know you are too. I thought it was my fault and being hated by my three best friends was my punishment for thinking I was strong enough to face him. I chose to punish myself without thinking about how it would hurt all of you. I really thought you all would be better off without me.” It was Blake’s turn to wipe away at tears on their face. 

Yang’s first impulse was to go forward to hug Blake but she stopped mid movement and brought her hand back. They were thankful that she had understood they weren’t really happy with physical contact. ”You should have known better...And what you did is still fucked up. I’m still glad you had a reason beside the selfish one. Things won’t go back to what they were but I’d like you to be our teammate again.” Yang’s offer sounded genuine. They should have expected that. They were the only one who lied as much in their team even if they got better once they didn’t have to hide their faunus trait all the time. 

They had to think to offer an answer that wasn’t some self pitying bullshit “I don’t think I deserve that, but I’ll do my best to earn some of your trust back.” They forced themself to smile despite some of the remaining tears. Yang returned the same teary smile. “And...if you want to talk about some of your nightmares, you know I’ll be here to hear you. I know how it feels to be haunted by  _ his _ specter.”

Yang grabbed her prosthetic as she spoke.”I think...I think I’d like that but not now...I think we need enough tissues.” She proceeded to attach her arm with a slight grunt of pain, testing out her movement. “Want to train together, so we can make him a real specter next time he tries his shit?” The sight of Yang’s smirk was enough to fill them with butterflies. They could only offer a small smile and a nod as they took out Gambol Shroud and went toward the sound of Nora’s voice coming from the backyard.

They were going to be stronger for themselves, but also their teammates. Next time, Adam would run away, again, or die for what he did to them. And what he did to their partner. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Myrmor for beta reading this chapter and for her support.


	4. Rainbow over the Crimson sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time has passed since team RWBY is back together. Old wounds have closed but new one have been made. Blake is no longer running, they stayed through every part of this journey to Atlas. But as they got near and their plan to hijack their way in Atlas started, an old demon showed his ugly horns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad health nearly stopped me but it only managed to delay the inevitable.
> 
> Feel free to comment or leave Kudos if you feel so inclined.

Everything felt so unreal. It had happened so fast that it couldn’t be anything else than a nightmare. It might have been a bigger group of apathy. Maybe their cries had taken them down once again but this time it fed on her fear instead of her latent depression. That seemed more likely than what was happening around them, they would have preferred for it to be only an illusion. They were used to seeing their nightmare anyway.Last time had been in that morbid ghost town.

They could still remember the feeling of peace that overtook them in the farm. Peace was probably not the right word, but it felt like it at the time. They could remember the familiar feeling that nothing they did mattered at all. The feeling they got when the fangs got news of a discriminatory law that was made without any real opposition by anyone but them. The same feeling every time they saw a mutilated faunus that had lost their trait in human indifference. The overwhelming sense that no matter what they did with all the time they had to live, in the end the world wouldn’t be any better or worse without them in it. It whispered how hard they made it by fighting back, by being at all in a world that was at best indifferent to anything they did. How easy it would be to give up. To give up on what they believed so that they could live in blissful ignorance, but then it was to give up living at all if their life was meaningless.

They had fallen to the apathy, and if it wasn’t for Ruby’s newfound power, they would have been dead. Though Ruby insisted that if it wasn’t for them forcing through the fog, none of them would have managed to get out of bed and avoid sharing the fate of everyone in this village. Weiss was the hardest to rise from her slumber, the hardest to get out of her apathy. It was heart wrenching to see the deep sadness in the heiress eyes. To see the progress she has made in warming up to other people disappear back beneath her icy armor. She had told them after how shaken she had been with Djinn's revelation and how the temptation from the nearby bottle was enough to make her feel like a failure. It reminded her of her broken home and her broken mother, of broken promises to “come back for her''.

Ruby couldn’t handle the enormous responsibilities that were trusted upon her. She was the youngest of them all but somehow had ended up the leader of two teams. She was the only witness to one of her friend’s murder and she only had pieces of a team scattered to the wind. The world’s fate was depending on a group of young adults guided by an immortal idiot, that fled when his masquerade was over, and her depressive alcoholic uncle. They had never seen Ruby cry silently and they swear they would do everything they could so that it didn’t happen again.

Yang hid it more than most, but she had broken down once they went to the barn. Once she could be something other than the big sister. She couldn’t muster the will to get angry and she felt so weak from it. Without the flame of anger to ward away the fear, the nightmares of the night had hit her worse than ever. They could only hug the shivering dragon as they shared what hope they could muster. They had managed to pull free from the apathy driven to live another day just to spite the bastard.

But the bastard had found them. They should have known he would track them down. Wait for them to split up so they were an easier target. He might have been a monster, but he wasn’t dumb. To fight a whole group of trained hunters face on was a death wish. Now they were running through trees, trying to gain some distance on the ram faunus. They were faster between the trees, but he was a lot more agile in this snowy environment. They felt dread creep through them despite their resolve as they could hear cascading water. The edge of the forest was getting nearer with each jump through trees with their ribbon.

Suddenly, the painfully familiar sound of Blush echoed through the trees. The bullet struck true in the branch that they were attached to, sending them barreling through the sky before a rough tumble through snow. Blake managed to jump straight back on their feet onto the solid rocky ground in front of the waterfall. Gambol’s shorter blade in hand as Adam walked in the snow, slowly sheathing Wilt again. “Missed me Kitty cat? You really made me wait this time.”

Blake could feel their anger rising, they weren’t afraid of it anymore, it was fuel for their fire. “I was about to say the same, a bit too afraid to fight better than you? Or were you too scared to show your face after running away?” They could see his anger by the twitch of his mouth. He yelled as he rushed forward, hand on his guard for his devastating quick draw. They slipped back into their shadow, using his anger to blindside him. He cut through their clone in one fluid movement that would have taken half their aura down by their estimate. Instead his aura had to block Blake’s cleaver.

They had to end this fight quickly, the longer it lasted the more power he could store in his sword. Before they could attempt a further strike, Blush was sent with the recoil of a shot inside their guts, knocking the air out of their lungs. They heard the air rushing as wilt cut the air in front of them. They switched Gambol to machine gun form and emptied their regular bullet magazine. Adam would be able to charge some energy from it, but they had a plan and if it worked out, they would kiss Weiss.

“You know Blake, I had planned on killing all your friends before ending you but you’re always so stuck together, is it your new pack? A bunch of weaklings, a _Schnee?!_ You’ve sunk so low without me.” He dashed forward again as they tried to reload. They blocked the red blade with their cleaver. “Now I’m just going to cut your legs off and keep you with me when I kill all your _friends_.” He kicked them in the chest sending them sprawling back on the rock.

As they opened their mouth to answer, he was already on them. Their head would have been off their shoulder if they hadn’t been replaced by a shadow of ice. They only had enough dust for one elemental clone of ice, electricity and fire. It would have to do. Wild was stuck in the frozen Blake’s neck. The cleaver struck down on his back and they managed to get their ribbon around his ankle. His aura was weakening but their own clone was a huge drain on their limited aura.

“You’re not the only one who can play with dust!” With the press of a trigger that they had never seen on Wilt the blade came alive with fire, cutting straight through the ice and hitting them in the same move in a downward diagonal sword. It was only through muscle reflexes that their cleaver had blocked some of the blow. It wouldn’t happen twice since the cleaver was ripped from their hand and flew into the waterfall.

They were down to one short sword with a cut ribbon and two dust charges. They might still be able to take him down in a sacrifice attack. At least Yang would be free. “I guess Schnee’s dust isn’t that coated in blood anymore uh?” Getting him angry was a good way to make him sloppy, and it still worked. This time, the clone ,as it was cut through, exploded in a ball of fire, followed by a quick stab in the back by Blake but they were met by a powerful strike of his sheath.

“Thanks for the boost dearest.” He sheathed his sword before they could recover, his aura flared up as the world seemed to turn red. He had used the explosion blast to charge his semblance up. An enhanced quick draw was impossible to avoid, and their aura couldn’t take such a hit. He had made the distance before any other thought could cross their mind. They ran forward toward him, Gambol’s hook managed to block the blade long enough for Blake to punch Adam’s face as Yang would have, sending him back with a stunned look. Barely a second later his sword was above his head and was coming down with great force. They tried to deflect the blow again, but the blade was just too damaged. Even if Wilt was deflected, Gambol was cut in two, still the imbalance let them just enough time to kick him in the face before using him as a springboard to get away.

Blake didn’t know to check that their aura was running really low, a lot lower than Adam despite all the hits he had taken. He was known to be resilient and decisive in his strike, it didn’t matter if he struck only twice in a fight if the opponent didn’t survive the second strike. Blake was now out of weapon aside from some lightning dust. They were probably dead; they should have run away but they couldn’t. He wouldn’t let them, and they wouldn’t be able to live knowing they had lost again. So, both fists rose in the best reproduction they could make of Yang’s stance.

Adam’s laugh echoed in the valley as he sheathed his sword again, barely keeping his hand near the sword. He clearly thought he had won already; they couldn’t blame him. “What do you think a panther without claws can do? If you just stop acting up and start being a good girl again, I might take you back, despite everything.” He was talking loudly to get his voice across despite the waterfall as he walked slowly toward them. They could hear two rumbling though, the first one was the waterfall but what was the second one? And why was it getting louder?

Blake allowed themselves to laugh, which seemed to anger the ram even more. “Sorry Adam, you’re really not worth my time.” This was their last bet. His hand was on the hilt in a second as he dashed forward. They slipped into their shadow again and jumped backward. The fiery blade cut through their clone, but the fire did nothing to prevent electricity from coursing through the metal and paralyze the swordsman. They went for a strike.

With a mechanical roar, a yellow and black vehicle plowed through and hit Adam’s aura with full force, sending him flying away. The only reason his sword stayed in his hand was the electricity locking his muscle in a death grip. Bumblebee plummeted down the waterfall followed by an explosion. Blake could only see a yellow mane blowing in the chilly wind in front of them.

“Round 2 you asshole!” Yang’s voice was filled with bravado that Blake could easily see through, the twitching in Yang’s metallic arm was also giving her away. Adam’s aura was flickering from such a hit, he had multiple cuts all over his body that his aura failed to prevent. His bandana had fallen off to reveal his scarred face full of anger. “Everything’s okay Ankoku?”

They managed to get up, holding the broken half of Gambol in an ice pick grip. “No more dust and Gambol is broken. I probably can make one or two shadows or take one hit.” Yang nodded, Ember Celica snapping into place. “Let’s go Dragon.” Yang rushed forward followed by Blake a few paces behind.

Yang’s metal fist collided with Adam’s sword making the bastard grin at the red glow it took. A fast flurry of punches followed the first blow, Adam dodge and blocked most of them. Blake used the distraction to strike from behind with their broken weapon. Adam’s cry of anger was followed by an explosion of red as he released the energy of Yang’s punch, pushing both of them backward as his aura flickered.

Before Blake could recover, he used his remaining speed strike in a wide arc. They couldn’t die here, but they were going to. The arc of the weapon would catch them even with their semblance. “Goodbye kitty cat.” They were paralyzed in front of him again, and this time there wouldn’t be a second chance. It was over.

“BLAKE!!” Yang’s yell pierced through their stupor.

They had to try, even if it had no chance of working. They had to fight back this time. They had to try even if it wasn’t going to work. They slipped back into the shadow with only one thought: They had to stop him.

The moment she unlocked their semblance was the first time one of their protests had been met with police’s baton. They saw the man clad in armor raising his weapon on a teenager and felt terrified. They wanted to get away without being seen. And that’s when their shadow enveloped them so that they could escape unseen.

Now their only thought was that they needed to fight back and as they stepped back from the shadow. It wasn’t the same copy of them that it was usually. Their shadow wasn’t a decoy for someone to hit and arm without meeting any resistance. It was a solid shadow and as Wilt impacted the shadow of Gambol, the sound of metal echoed against the stone as both blades collided.

A powerful cry came from behind Adam as a burst of red flame was followed by a shockwave as Yang’s powered up punch collided with the ground with enough force to make Adam lose his balance. He was already visibly confused, and he struck recklessly as he turned around in a spinning movement aiming to cut through Yang’s midsection.

Taking inspiration in Blake’s shadow, rather than try and avoid the hit Yang’s prosthetic grabbed the blade mid swing using it to yank Adam toward her as another burst of red and flame engulfed her hair. Ember Celica punched through his aura and collided with his face, breaking bones and sending him flying sword less in the snow. Wilt still in her hand, this move had cost her most of her aura, but it was worth it.

Blake joined Yang. “Take this, it’s time to end it.” The panther’s hand closed around Wilt’s grip. It wasn’t their favorite weapon, but Gambol wasn’t in fighting shape anymore. Both of them approached the down faunus.

He struggled to rise on his elbows in the snow. He made a gurgling before spitting blood and a few teeth. “Look at the brave heroes, approaching a down opponent to finish him off. Do you think you can kill your fiancée Blake?” Their grip tightened around the hilt.

“You’re just an abusive ex. You need to pay for what you did to the humans, to the faunus, to _Me_ !” The katana rose up as tear filled their eyes, their whole body shaking with tension as they prepare to put an end to him and to their torture. You’re going to pay for what you did to _Us_!”

Adam’s anger flares up on his broken face as he aims Blush straight for Blake’s chest. “I won’t go alone!” They didn’t have time to dodge, not enough aura to use their semblance or taking the blast. A shotgun blast ringed through the trees followed by a cry of pain.

Wilt had been destroyed in the same shot that blew Adam’s hand off. Ember Celica was still letting out smoke. “That makes us even you bastard”. Before he could answer, Wilt plunged through his chest with a sickening ease. His last words forever lost on buzzing hears.

Wilt came out with a spurt of blood. Crimson was slowly coloring the snow all around them as they took shaky breath. Blake’s mind was overwhelmed, it was too much again. It was over. It was really over this time. Adam Taurus was dead by his own blade, by their own hand. They were safe. Yang was safe. Everyone was safe now.

Their knees gave out from under them. The cold and the wetness were somehow grounding. The world was unfocused. It was all blurry, their vision filled with white, a vaguely human shape black spot that was slowly surrounded by red. Their hands weren’t coated with blood as they had imagined it countless times. The world was weirdly silent as if everything had paused.

Then they heard a cry full of anger and sadness. Yang’s yell echoed through the woods around as birds flew off. There were so many raw emotions that they could hear, they could barely imagine what was going on inside her head. It wasn’t the first time they had seen Yang cry out her emotion, far from it. Usually raw anger that made them uneasy around her. But seeing her with her hair aflame, tears streaming down her face and mixing with the melting snow, the only thought they had was that she was beautiful.

Their own was filled with fog, it was probably too much emotion to handle. Trying to focus only made them want to throw up. They needed to do something though. Blake slowly rose to their feet and hugged their partner. The yell slowly died down as muscles tensed through the yellow dragon. They felt safe enough to try something that hadn’t worked until now. “Yang, I think you can hug me.” Yang’s whole body tensed but she nodded. Her arms slowly started closing around the panther faunus, leaving them ample time to back out if they felt uncomfortable.

Blake had shouldered the panic they got whenever they were touched, or worst hugged, at Beacon without asking. Adam had turned so many displays of affection into tests of strength and control. They couldn’t recall every time he had turned a hug into a punishment for whatever misdemeanor he had imagined, the feeling of being crushed in his arm without any way to escape. Back from Ménagerie they had chosen to tell the team about it instead of letting their friend hurt them to appear “normal”. They had done their best, though Ruby still had a hard time when she was overly excited and needed to express it physically, but she was trying.

When Yang’s arms were around them, it didn’t feel like they thought it would. It wasn’t some grand revelation that would cure them of their phobia forever and would make them crave touch as if nothing ever happened. It wasn’t an explosion of fireworks. But it was warm, they were against Yang and it was warm, and they were safe. They still felt some tingle of discomfort, but it was worth it. It was a step forward. The warm feeling in their bellies was nice and before their brain could start overthinking it. Their lips were pressed against Yang’s. It barely lasted for more than a second but judging by both of their faces, it was enough to fry both of their brains.

They couldn’t afford to stay right there for too long. Their plan to go to atlas has already been more or less abandoned and if the sound of powerful blast of weaponry was any indication, they had been found. Bumblebee was gone in the river and both their aura were barely holding. A beowulf scratch would be enough to pierce right through their remaining protection.

Gambol Shroud was out for the count though they kept the broken hilt as a memento. Wilt was theirs now. They didn’t feel great wielding his wea…his former weapon but neither grimm nor Atlas cared about their trauma. Though maybe grimm did like the taste of those. Blush was no more so Blake had to hold the bloodied blade in their hand with no sheath. Salvaging their ribbon, they tied up the katana close against their hips.

Yang had managed to stop shaking as much though her prosthetic clearly could use some reparation for the large groove blade shaped in her hand. The way was easy to find at least between bumblebee tracks and the sound of explosion that echoed through the valley. Neither Yang nor Blake said anything about what happened. They didn’t need to say anything right now, they just needed rest and a place where they could talk without risk of grimms coming out of the woodwork.

When they broke out of the forest edge, they were met with quite a scene. A giant mech was held by an arm to the ocean floor. The airship they were supposed to steal was damaged in several places and every single member of the team had barely any aura left at all. And to tie a knot around this situation, a whole swarm of flying grimm lead by a leviathan size aquatic one was approaching the town. “Looks like we’re just in time for the fun part!” Yang’s voice was slightly broken from all the yelling she did earlier but she tried to sound cheerful.

“Yang! Blake! You’re back!” Ruby ran toward them both clearly getting ready for a tackle hug. Blake really wanted to be able to let herself be hugged but the thought was sending shivers through their spine. They elected to retreat backward a few steps; Yang seemed to understand as she caught Ruby in her own hug.

“He’s gone Rubes, that fucker is gone for good.” They could see both sisters hug their feelings out. Ruby might have wanted Adam’s head as much as they did for hurting their sister. She would have to be satisfied with a picture. The bastard’s body was better left to the wolf.

All of them looked tired but even from where they were, they could feel the tremble from the giant grimm’s step against the seafloor. They knew Ruby enough to guess they were all going to risk their life for the city even if they were probably not in any state to do that. “I think we have some grimm that are waiting for us” Wilt was finally going to kill other things that deserved it.

* * *

The fight hadn’t been easy, they could thank Ruby’s quick thinking and newfound power to have even survived at all. Also, the Atlas military base somewhat, though Blake still hoped the racist base commander would get what she deserved.

There were now two piles, one made of each team in the airship going to Atlas. Well, Blake was sitting beside the pile, one hand resting against Weiss’s back. A thought crossed their mind. “I wish he had lived a little longer” Every member of their team looked at them as if they lost their mind.

Ruby voiced their question aloud. “What?! Why?!” Everyone looked at them, especially Yang who had been there.

“The last thing he would see would have been me kissing a woman much better than he could ever be” Blake surprised themselves with a genuine laugh soon joined by Yang.

The loud voice of a shocked heiress stopped them in their tracks “Wait, you two kissed?!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are. The end of the very first fic I've written. I didn't think I would manage but It seems I did.  
> The fact that I managed it is due, in no small part, to the support and help of my sister Myrmor whose a great writter and person all around.  
> Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this fanfic, I'm really sorry for all the mistakes and weird phrasing, I'll do better next time!


End file.
